A rather gloomy start to the day, but braved the weather with no coat and set out for the station early. Opted for a quick early breakfast again, as I was heading for London with the intention of covering one of the most significant of my remaining untravelled bits of track originating from the captial. Arrived at Temple Meads, noting the hired-in GNER HST set waiting for its departure for the seaside. Seemed sort of incongruous in the fairly wintery conditions this morning! A quick step over to platform 13 for my seat on the 07:30 to Paddington.

Once again, a smooth and quiet journey towards London. We ran early much of the way. Unusually large amounts of locomotives stabled at Didcot and Reading today too. Noted a progressive improvement in the weather, with the sun peeking between the clouds somewhere east of Swindon. On arrival at Paddington had the frustrating experience of not being able to get off the platform, as the First Great Western prebooked tickets didn't work the gates! Due to a late decision on where I was headed today I picked these tickets up from a FastTicket machine at Temple Meads yesterday. Noted that they were also not endorsed for cross-London underground travel, so shelled out for a Travelcard too. Pretty annoying - when I received similar tickets from the Trainline last week they came complete with a Gate Pass.

Over to Liverpool Street. I depart from here rarely enough to still make it feel like something of an event. It didn't even matter that the rolling stock was a fairly dilapidated 317 with bits falling off and evidence of some comprehensive vandalism in recent days. The train filled up fairly quickly, and soon enough we were heading out into the Northeast London suburbs en route to Cambridge. The entirety of this line from Hackney Downs northwards is new to me - but I found the stop/start crawl through the suburbs most interesting. We weren't scheduled to call anywhere here, but the procession of services meant fairly slow progress until we passed Cheshunt. I'll confess to dozing off a little here - the day had become very warm and my early start was catching up with me. There was something soothing about the rolling, typically English countryside which lulled me into sleep all to easily!

Arrived at a very hot and crowded Cambridge station in one of the south-facing bay platforms. Cambridge has a curious layout - one long through platform with a crossover in the middle to enable working as two separate faces, with a pair of bays facing in each direction. Started with a wander around to see what was stabled, noting 31105 and 31106 on a test train. Found some lunch and rebooked for Ely to cover another missing link in my 'Baker'. Hopped onto Central's Birmingham-bound 170 for a short and pleasantly cool ride through the fens. The incredibly flat, almost featureless countryside here sort of unnerves me somehow. I long for hills or something to break the desolation. For this reason, arriving at Ely is always special. The view from the south was no less impressive, with the Cathedral appearing suddenly and dominating the landscape for miles around. Took time to explore the station a little today, and spent a happy half-hour enjoying a coffee and watching the trains. I'm always amazed how Ely station is perched on the edge of the void landscape - the town to the west and north, but empty fenland to the east and south - the emptiness beginning just feet from the busy station. All too soon time to head back to Cambridge on a curiously still Anglia Railways liveried 170273.

Surprised just how crowded Cambridge station seemed to get - particularly before each direct Kings Cross train departed. My own plans were to take one of these services, but first I found myself a spot out of the crowds and spend some time people-watching and trying to take some photographs of the passing trains, which are all fairly unfamiliar classes as far as I'm concerned. Finally settled on the 14:15 fast train to Kings Cross - a pair of 365s, non-stop. Settled in for a speedy ride along the southern reaches of the East Coast Mainline.

A couple of surprises at Kings Cross. Firstly, 47712 and 47145 stabled in a distinctly unphotographable spot at the station. I understand they'd worked a railtour earlier in the week. Next was the spacious new Underground Ticket Hall which I'd not visited before. Much improved access and lots of space, but a little confusing at first being used to the long walk around caused by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link works at St. Pancras. Once I'd found a Circle Line platform I was soon on a train back to Paddington, with a little time for a pint of Chiswick Bitter in the Mad Bishop and Bear before my train back to Highbridge, which tonight was hauled by 43175 - one of the recently repainted HST power cars which First Great Western can't decide on the final livery for!